Local officials getting tough on illegal immigrants have a new target: their cars.

Communities in Alabama, California, Illinois and elsewhere are using laws that punish drivers without licenses. Cities often tow cars immediately.

The laws don't single out illegal immigrants, but some officials say they sought the penalties because more illegal immigrants are living and driving in their towns. Most states do not issue licenses to illegal immigrants.

"We have had a substantial decline in our quality of life, our neighborhoods. We believe there is a direct correlation with illegal immigration," says Sam Abed, deputy mayor of Escondido, Calif., who is pushing an ordinance to limit overnight parking on public streets.

Abed says illegal immigrants crowd into homes. "Every time there's a house for sale, three or four families buy it. There are 10 cars out front," he says. "Some people cannot park in front of their own homes."

The City Council voted in June to consider an ordinance that would allow each household to park only one car on the street overnight.

Attempts to deal with illegal immigration at the local level have accelerated since Congress failed this summer to overhaul the immigration system.

About 100 communities have proposed ordinances in the past year, most penalizing landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them, the American Civil Liberties Union says. Forty have passed.

"There's been a long history of ordinances that don't say anything about immigrants and nothing about national origin, but clearly are aimed at particular groups," says John Trasviña, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "They have uniformly been struck down."

A towing ordinance in Waukegan, Ill., is being challenged in federal court. It requires police to impound a car and fine a driver without a license or insurance $500.

Waukegan Mayor Richard Hyde says public-safety concerns motivated the ordinance. Ramon Becerra, regional head of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, says it promotes racial profiling. Most drivers whose cars are towed are Hispanic, he says. Hyde says that was true at first but now they're "predominantly white." Traffic accidents have declined, he adds.

The nearby city of Elgin, Ill., broadened its towing ordinance last month to cover unlicensed drivers. Officials in Carpentersville, Ill., were scheduled to discuss whether to adopt a similar ordinance Tuesday.

The Hispanic population in all three Illinois communities has more than doubled since 1990.

A new towing ordinance in Athens, Ala., targets unlicensed drivers. Nearby communities, including Huntsville, are weighing similar measures. Last year, 3,045 drivers in Huntsville were cited for driving without a license, up from 2,258 in 2005. Public Safety Director Rex Reynolds attributes the increase to stepped-up enforcement and a growing population of illegal immigrant drivers.

The City Council will vote this month on a proposal to tow cars of drivers without licenses, he says.

"While our ordinance does not in any way target illegal immigrants, the number of Hispanic offenders we are seeing continues to increase," he says. "A large percentage of them are traveling to and from work. From a law-enforcement perspective … we cannot allow that."